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Natural Ways to Love Your Heart

These five foods and supplements can improve cholesterol and more.

By Jennifer Davis

However, recent research has found that soy probably does not play a direct role in lowering cholesterol. More likely, people benefit from soy because they eat it in place of higher-fat animal proteins.

“My suggestion is you should take soy not as a supplement but as part of your protein mix,” says David J.A. Jenkins, MD, PhD, director of the Risk Modification Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

Best sources: Roasted soybeans, tofu, tempeh and edamame – baby soybeans that are steamed in their pods.

How much: Aim for 25 grams a day, or about half your daily protein intake. Four ounces of tofu, about 1/3 of a 14-ounce package, for example, contains about 10 grams of protein.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

What they are: Essential chemical compounds, required for human health, that cannot be made by the body.

How they can help: Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to calm inflammation, reduce cardiac arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats, lower triglycerides and help keep plaque from building up in your arteries.

In addition, “Omega-3 fatty acids prevent white cells in the blood from forming a clot so in that aspect, it works like aspirin,” says Paul Marik, MD, a professor of medicine and chief of pulmonary and critical care at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. He authored a recent review of 11 studies that determined that dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids significantly reduced the risk of cardiac events in high-risk patients.

Best sources: Supplements; oily fish such as sardines, salmon and tuna; vegetarian sources such as canola oil, walnuts and flaxseeds.

A 2009 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found that arthritis affected 57 percent of adults who had been diagnosed with heart disease, compared with just 27 percent of adults in the general population.

And previous research has found that a diagnosis of systemic, inflammatory arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, doubles the risk of having a heart attack within 10 years.

So, even though day-in and day-out, it’s your hinges that are hurting, you should pay as much attention to your heart as you do to your joints. Having healthy cholesterol levels is a good place to start.

There are three main types of blood fats that doctors worry about. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol is the “bad” cholesterol that can stick together and build up on the inner walls of the arteries. High-density lipoprotein, or HDL, on the other hand, is the “good” cholesterol, cleaning harmful cholesterol out of the arteries. Triglycerides are a common form of fat in food and also the kind storied by the body. The American Heart Association says optimal cholesterol numbers are less than 100 for LDL; more than 40 for HDL in men and more than 50 for HDL in women; and less than 150 for triglycerides.

While nothing can replace prescription medication if your cholesterol is dangerously high, you could be able to cut back on the medication you currently take by incorporating some of the natural solutions that follow. And if your cholesterol numbers are already good, adding some of these power foods and supplements to your diet can help keep your heart strong for years to come.

But remember, adding any new food or supplement to your diet may interfere with your current medications or cause other reactions. Be sure to talk to your doctor before incorporating these into your daily regimen.

Soy

What it is: Soy is a particularly versatile protein from the soybean plant, a species of legume native to Southeast Asia.

How it can help: You may remember the buzz, about a decade ago, about soy improving heart health. That’s when products containing soy began to have labels stating 25 grams of soy protein daily could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering cholesterol.

However, recent research has found that soy probably does not play a direct role in lowering cholesterol. More likely, people benefit from soy because they eat it in place of higher-fat animal proteins.

“My suggestion is you should take soy not as a supplement but as part of your protein mix,” says David J.A. Jenkins, MD, PhD, director of the Risk Modification Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

Best sources: Roasted soybeans, tofu, tempeh and edamame – baby soybeans that are steamed in their pods.

How much: Aim for 25 grams a day, or about half your daily protein intake. Four ounces of tofu, about 1/3 of a 14-ounce package, for example, contains about 10 grams of protein.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

What they are: Essential chemical compounds, required for human health, that cannot be made by the body.

How they can help: Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to calm inflammation, reduce cardiac arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats, lower triglycerides and help keep plaque from building up in your arteries.

In addition, “Omega-3 fatty acids prevent white cells in the blood from forming a clot so in that aspect, it works like aspirin,” says Paul Marik, MD, a professor of medicine and chief of pulmonary and critical care at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. He authored a recent review of 11 studies that determined that dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids significantly reduced the risk of cardiac events in high-risk patients.

Best sources: Supplements; oily fish such as sardines, salmon and tuna; vegetarian sources such as canola oil, walnuts and flaxseeds.

How much: As a supplement, 1,000 mg to -2,000 mg, daily or two to three servings of fish weekly.

Beta-Glucan

What they are: A class of water-soluble fibers found naturally in foods like oats and barley.

How they can help: It is thought that beta glucans binds with cholesterol in the digestive tract, helping some of it to pass through the body without being absorbed. But because beta-glucans are only moderately effective at lowering LDL cholesterol, Dr. Jenkins recommends making them just one part of a diet rich in heart-healthy foods.

Beta-glucans also seem to be helpful for regulating blood sugar in people who have diabetes.

If you choose to take a beta-glucan supplement, a word of caution: Animal studies have shown that the higher doses of beta-glucans found in supplements may increase the toxicity of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). And because beta-glucans appear to stimulate the immune system, supplements may work against immune-suppressing arthritis drugs, including prednisone and cyclosporin, which are given for autoimmune forms of arthritis.

Best sources: Oats, mushrooms, barley and supplements.

How much: Try for at least 3 grams daily. A half-cup of dry, rolled oats has about 2 grams of soluble fiber and a quarter-cup of uncooked pearl barley contains 2.5 grams of beta glucans.

Plant Sterols and Stanols

What they are: Plant sterols and stanols are naturally occurring compounds found in small amounts in nuts, seeds, grains, vegetables, legumes and fruits. mention certain manufacturers have concentrated them as additives in functional foods.

What they may do: Plant sterols compete with cholesterol in the intestine to reduce its absorption by the body. A clinical review published in the British Medical Journal found that people who ate 2 grams of sterols in fortififed margarine each day reduced their artery-clogging LDL cholesterol by 10 percent to 15 percent.

Best sources: Foods fortified with sterols, including some kinds of margarine and orange juice, or phytosterol supplements.

How much: Aim for 2 grams. The fortified margarine Benecol contains 0.85 grams of plant sterols per tablespoon. An 8-oz. serving of Minute Maid Heartwise Orange Juice contains 1 gram of plant sterols. So you could easily get your daily does of sterols and stanols at breakfast.

Niacin

What it is: A kind of B vitamin.

How it can help: Niacin in regular amounts helps the body turn carbohydrates into energy, but at higher levels – available as over-the-counter supplements or by prescription – it is a powerful weapon against high cholesterol.

Studies show niacin therapy can lower LDL cholesterol by 10 percent to 25 percent and lower triglycerides by 20 percent to 50 percent. It also helps to increase HDL by 15 percent to 35 percent. HDL is often low in people who have RA.

Niacin is so effective, in fact, that a study published in the Nov. 26, 2009 New England Journal of Medicine concluded that the prescription niacin (Niaspan), was better at preventing plaque buildup in the carotid artery than the prescription drug ezetimibe (Zetia). And doctors frequently prescribe niacin along with statin medications to boost their effects.

Best sources: Niacin pills are usually necessary to bring down high cholesterol, although niacin is found in peanuts, fortified cereals, eggs poultry and dairy products.

How much: Start with 100 milligram and work your way up to 400 milligrams, daily, spread over two to four doses. Any dose over 500 milligrams should be approved by a physician. Prescription doses range from 500 to 2,000 milligrams daily.

Note: To help prevent an annoying but harmless side effect called “niacin flush,” a warm feeling that spreads across your body, take niacin at mealtime and/or take a regular aspirin about a half hour before the niacin pill.